Historically, security papers and substrates for banknotes, bonds, stocks, coupons, certificates, gift vouchers and other financial instruments along with identification documents, Ids, professional licenses to practice and ownership deeds etc., were ultra violet (UV) dull and did not fluoresce, i.e. turn bright or “glow” under UV light. Thus, UV fluorescent fibers, inks and coatings could be added to the security documents in predetermined target areas for visual verification/authentication by an observer or inspector (Warner, et. al.) Therefore if the above mentioned security documents were to be examined and verified under UV light if said documents turned bright or “glow” which would imply a “negative” result and said documenst would be deemed counterfeit. However, if said documents would remain “dull” or did not “glow” would imply a “positive” result and said documents are to be deemed genuine.
Also, the security substrates contained no fillers (sizing agents) or stiffeners such as potassium iodide starches that allow for authenticity and verification testing by marking on the security document in question, with a commercially available potassium Iodide Based Pen (IBP) or stamp pad in order to turn the marked area to be verified to a gold/amber/yellow color. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,163 of Carmeli, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification. Therefore if the above mentioned security documents were to be examined and verified by marking such documents with a commercially available potassium Iodide Based Pen (IBP) turned dark/black/reddish brown would imply a “negative” result and said documents would be deemed counterfeit. However, if said marking on these documents would turn gold/amber/yellow would imply a “positive” result and said documents are to be deemed genuine.
Most commercially available publication grade papers, especially coated papers, have ultraviolet brighteners and sizing agents that render them useless for financial security document applications as they are designed to fluoresce under UV light and they also react to a potassium iodide or potassium permanganate counterfeit detection Iodide Based Pen (IBP)/pad stamps producing a desired and visible colored moiety, usually dark/black/reddish brown in color respectively. Traditionally documents with these results would be considered and accepted as “negative” results and be rejected as “genuine”. However, in more recent times, security printers are faced with using recycled papers that often contain unknown percentages of recycled coated publication grade papers mixed with recycled uncoated papers and thus when tested with a potassium iodide or potassium permanganate counterfeit detection Iodide Based Pen (IBP) pens/pad stamps may turn gold/amber/yellow color which signify a “positive” test result or dark/black/reddish brown color which signify a “negative” test result depending on the concentration of recycled coated paper. The same mixture of coated and uncoated recycled papers as above may (which signify a “negative” test result) or may not fluoresce (which signify a “positive” test result) under UV light inspection, depending again on the unknown percentages of coated and uncoated papers present in the recycled substrate.
Using the counterfeit detection Iodide Based Pen (IBP) or stamp pad and UV light detection methods are questionable and subject to “false positive” test errors when the documents are produced on recycled papers. In addition to the above scenario of unknown mixtures of coated versus uncoated paper present in the recycled substrates, many printing papers, such as Japanese rice papers, common newsprint stock, synthetic plastic papers and natural fiber papers contain no UV brighteners nor sizing starches, thus appearing to be UV dull and produce the “false positive” gold/amber/yellow color when tested with a counterfeit detection Iodide Based Pen (IBP).
Sometimes, fraudsters and criminals will take bone fide security documents, such as a one dollar US Banknote, use a oxidizing agent, such as bleach or hydrogen peroxide or a reducing agent such as bisulphite to erase the printed one dollar image, leaving the real security paper substrate to be reprinted at a higher denomination value, a practice known as “raising the note.”. Thus the forged note is printed on a bond fide security paper and when tested for potassium iodide starch by a counterfeit detection Iodide Based Pen (IBP) or stamp pad will turn gold/amber/yellow and also looks UV dull under visual examination with a UV light source, a false positive test result.
In extreme cases, counterfeiters, forgers, terrorists, and fraudsters will simply procure the desired real security substrates by “breaking and entry” thus producing counterfeit documents that will produce a false positive test result when examined with a counterfeit detection Iodide Based Pen (IBP) and/or examined with a UV light source. A False Positive Testing Device, FPTD, that is independent of the security paper's UV dull and potassium iodate starch reaction attributes is needed for document, label and packaging authentication and verification.
There are numerous verification/identification commercially available security print technologies/techniques/methods that are used for securing security documents, labels and packages. They range from user friendly low-cost but very effective counterfeit and forgery deterrents such as void pantographs, microprint lines, geometric lathe patterns to covert security features such as scramble indicia to very high tech and expensive features such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, holograms, etc., where the verification involves the examination of the distortion or absence of the above mentioned features.
Certain segments of the industry's security end products, such as coupons, checks, cash vouchers, free standing newspaper inserts (FSI), Rx prescription pads etc., warrant using effective but low cost security devices that are easily adopted to the operational production processes in current use for counterfeit/forgery mitigation and subsequent identification and verification.
It is an object of this invention to provide a very effective, low cost user friendly security device that can be used for deterring counterfeit and forgery attempts, is easily adaptable to the manufacturing and printing processes in current use, is most effective in reconciling false positive test results, and provides a new and additional test method for authentication/verification and identification of security documents labels and packages.